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(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2024
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
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I mean the minimum in minimum wage is meant to be the absolute minimum wage necessary to balance cost of living.
If cost of living goes up then so should the minimum wage.
What I understand the least is how businesses need to pay for resources to make their products yet for some reason human workers aren't considered resources and therefore aren't treated as part of the cost of owning a business.
If you can't make a profit while paying a living wage looks like you don't get to own that business ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'm just saying a 2br apartment in NYC is a lot more than one in Nowhere, Kansas.
Cost of living in NY > Cost of living in Nowhere, Kansas
Minimum wage of NY > Minimum wage of Nowhere, Kansas
This has nothing to do with what minimum wage should afford
I don't agree with OP. We shouldn't be striving to get people to work minimum wage. The minimum should be minimum. 2 BR is not minimum.
Now I'm all for a Basic Minimum Income. And if you need 2 BR and your low paying job isn't enough, the BMI should cover it.
But this idea that the lowest working class needs to receive "minimum wage" is false. They need to receive fair pay, not the minimum the company is required to give them.
Isn't the whole point that the minimum wage should be a fair wage?
Yes and no
Should be a fair wage, but it's not always a fair wage. In reality minimum wage will always lag behind inflation if you keep raising it to chase it.
Say minimum wage is $10
I work a job
Now, what is the company going to pay me?
$10
Fair wage is $12 for the job, but the business is only required to pay me $10.
In perfect economic conditions, I could go find another company that's willing to pay me $12, but we all know someone struggling at the bottom can't just simply switch jobs.
So the people that want to increase minimum wage want it to go to $12. To make it fair.
I'd say let them get $10, then tax the company and make sure the person gets $12, maybe even $14 if they need it.
The problem is that people are considered resources and are sourced like resources instead of humans. Companies pay as little as possible for both widgets and people and our Congress is just letting them.
Because the ruling class destroyed working class solidarity and gave everyone anxiety disorders so no one has the chutzpah to go to their boss and negotiate higher pay. Your boss can negotiate prices with suppliers because that's the established culture. Everything, and i mean everything, in this world is negotiable if you understand what leverage each party possesses.
The "minimum" in "minimum wage" literally means that nobody can pay you less.
It has no etymological relation to the cost of living.
Sure, if laws were based on semantics